The Moon's Reflection
by Aiko Isari
Summary: Sidestories to If the Moon Shines and its accompanying. Now up: - Dorothy loves her family.
1. I am a hero!

_Warning for reference to child abuse._

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1\. "I am a hero!"

Sayo doesn't have many memories. They were wiped away, smeared like a dirty window.

What she does have are these tiny hands begging for attention, warm eyes on her face.

Sayo looks down, fingers smeared with syrup. Her father, or this man who holds her like one should, picks up her sister and pulls her away, back towards the booth. "Let her eat, Yuki. Pancakes are one of her favorites, remember?"

Are they? She frowns. She can't remember. But the syrup is sweet. Perhaps that's what she really liked. "It's okay, dad. She's bored."

"Course I'm bored!" Her sister is six, and without the scars on her cheeks, the white bandages on her armpits, the stumble in her steps, she is ordinary. "Nee-chan is over there."

Their father has a nice laugh, warm with a tinge of hospital smell and mint to drown it out. Sayo doesn't like the first scent, but she's eleven. It has nothing to do with her. Or, rather, she is not allowed to let it have anything to do with her. She takes another bite. Her knife is on the other side of the table, hidden behind the napkin holder. The fluffy food has been cut up for her.

Her papa doesn't have to worry. She won't use it again, and never on them anyway.

The strawberry is a little sour. She wrinkles her nose at first, but Yuki's eyes are on her and Sayo quickly smiles again. Yuki doesn't have to worry either. That shadow made sure of that.

 _"What are you doing on the floor? You're all she has now, why are you crying?"_

She swallows heavily. The eggs looks like cat eyes, so she avoids them. Her fingers itch for the bandages, but she dollops butter on the fatty food instead.

It's good.

Sayo looks up at Yuki. "Aren't you gonna eat?"

Yuki blinks, as if realizing what she's doing, who she's staring at. "Un… but..." Her face contorts again. _She's so open,_ Sayo thinks to herself. So much like a baby bird. No wonder she's the maiden. Or something. Whatever the metaphor is. "I want a bit of Nee-chan's."

Dad looks ready to scold her again, amusement and exasperation making his lips twitch. That's often how he acts whenever Yuki's around, like things are okay. Or going to be okay. He isn't really any different when they're alone, except…

Sayo reaches for the hat on her head, purple and fluff. The tears on it are dry.

Her father has such a strong name and a stronger heart. Why does he cry?

Well, maybe it's good that he does. She's not going to, after all.

She plays with her purple locks, grabbing a bite of her pancakes and passing the fork to Yuki. The girl bounces in her seat, smiling with glee. Her white hair floats as she moves until Dad sets her down, taking the fork with a laugh. Sayo takes it back and continues to eat. She's smiling herself, without realizing it. Yuki makes her smile, whether she knows it or not.

" _Up now."_

Whether it's a good thing or not.

Eventually, the meal comes to an end. Yuki is still eating. Sayo is staring out the window, watching people walk their dogs. It causes a vague pain. She doesn't like it much, but her fingers itch to pet them.

"Did we have a dog?"

Dad pauses. Yuki keeps eating for a few seconds and swallows a blob of whipped cream. "Nope! But you nursed one back to health. It liked Nee-chan a bunch apparently. That was a while ago, though!"

"It was, huh?"

"Papa doesn't trust me with dogs," Yuki says. She looks at him like that's a crime. He chuckles.

"Yuki, he was too small to ride."

"But-"

Sayo feels the laugh come out before she hears it.

They are so nice, these people. Whether they're family or not, they're so nice and normal, while she's just…

" _It looks like you can't heal those yet. Let me help."_

The stitches are still in her skin. They itch.

"Maybe when I come back, you guys will have a kitten!" The thought makes her smile for some reason. The idea of small animals, small things worth protecting, it makes her heart swell.

 _It's the mother in you._

No, no it's not. It's not. She's not. She's not one of _those-_

"Onee-chan?"

She turns, realizes her fingers are bleeding. "What?" Sayo smiles because it doesn't hurt. "What's wrong, Yuki?"

Yuki looks at her and their purple eyes reflect each other, only one is more like spilled juice instead of wine. "Are you thinking about Mama again?"

 _-Thinking about her hitting the floor with the steel buried so deep you can't get it out, thinking about pain, pain, pain and that low, sweet voice saying that one stupid word like it's her name-_

Sayo smiles and it's big and real. "Nope! I'm just thinking of..." She swings her legs back and forth, looking up at the ceiling for her lies. "I'm thinking of all the monsters I'm gonna have to beat up today! I have to make sure I get 'em all! And it, see, it makes me so mad!" She grins wider and this time it hurts because it's not real. Her hands flap a little.

"Why would anyone wanna think of hurting you when I'm here?"

Yuki brightens. She's still little, she can do that. "Cause they're dumb of course!" She strikes a pose. "No one's gonna mess with Yuki, cause she's got her own hero!"

"Right, right?" She pokes Yuki's plate. "So, eat, okay? Imma watch for monsters!"

"Un!"

Dad relaxes when Yuki looks down. Sayo's smile dims, but she keeps it on until they leave. Her eyes glisten at her father's touch, but she doesn't cry. She can't cry. She is Yuki's hero, her big sister. She can't let her see tears, never ever.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ Silly FFN and its ridiculous word counter. Finally got it to where I wanted. So, if you haven't read _If the Moon Shines_ , this is a tiny tie-in collection expanding on things that i think of and won't appear in the main storyline. They might get a bit spoilery. If you want a link to the main fic, it is, of course, up, though this is a lower rating because there is less blood and gore and cursing. Doesn't mean there isn't any. I mean, think shonen anime. But if this needs to go up in rating, I will put it there. Anyway, please review and do check out the main when you have a free moment. Any genre can and will happen. it's not all about Sayo, though she is fun to explore.

Challenges: Diversity Writing Challenge: I1. Ficlets ahoy everyone.


	2. The Perfect Son

2\. The Perfect Son

There was a very loud splash six feet below, loud enough for Koh to take off his headphones and put his book down. "The shit, Pata."

"I'm okay!" he heard a distance away. "Sol just shoved me, I'm fine!" More splashing, more attempts at swimming. Koh almost went to get him, then found the little batpig slumped on shore. Sol's voice crackled over the fence.

"Don't twist it like that, you stole the powdered sugar!"

"Because you're not eating it."Pata sounded more put out about that than the fall.

"It goes on the _crepes_ , you incompetent-"

"Behave you two," Koh said with a snort. This was a serious fight, apparently. "Don't ruin my house. It's all I've got. If you're going to bother him Pata, I won't stop him from putting you in the oven. And Sol, just chill and watch your food."

"I don't eat my fellow mons at this level. Their data is too stringy." Sol went back to his place at the stove. "That's my sister's job. She's good enough at it for the both of us."

"You have a sister?" Koh shut his book with a sigh as he spoke. Damn, so much for getting some reading done. Pata was probably going to drip into Sol's lunch.

Sol snorted, flipping the crepe. "We're twins. Somehow, she's a lot more terrifying than I am. Girl likes to screw with people's reproduction too. She once got so angry at a village for their misuse of crops she ruined their egg production for half a century."

Koh whistled. "Seriously?" _Girls are weird._

Sol passed him a plate. He was getting way too used to his partner's cooking. He was gonna be spoiled. "She's vengeful when she wants to be."

"Can tell." He took a bite, grinning a bit. "Nice."

Sol looked smug, only to dodge a Neko Kick from above. "Tailmon, you could have gotten hair in the food!"

"I'm sure." The NaviDigimon shot Koh a sympathetic look. Koh waved her off. Poor cat had been looking after him for so many years she almost seemed to care. "Koh, you've got an email coming to your home computer."

Koh grunted. "Who and why?"

Tailmon shrugged. "No idea, the system recognized it though. Must be an old sender."

Koh's eyes widened a little, then he sighed. "Yeah, it probably is. I'll go take a look."

If there wasn't an ID on the screening process, it was an Earth email. It was probably sent six months ago or whatever the time difference was. Glare always told him the number and it never stuck. He didn't want to think about it.

He went to the old PC and turned it on, watching the odd loading screen. If he could just play with it a little… oh wait no, that wasn't allowed. Not after the last time.

Who knew you could make an operating system for your FARM PC onto your home computer? He'd figured it out somehow.

He opened the mail after a few moments of loading and sighed.

 _"Dear Koh, how are you? How are your classes? Have your Digimon gotten stronger? We finally managed to decipher some of the code in the teleporter program. Would you like to take a look? I'm sure-"_

He deleted it.

"Junk?" Sol's voice sounded mildly concerned.

Koh grunted and went back to his book. "Yeah, I need to upgrade the firewall again."

He didn't get letters from home. He got requests for his brain.

Not even a veil between words could get rid of that.


	3. A Meaning Behind Everything

_Warning for cursing and implied harm to minors. Also that is not scientific method._

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3\. A Meaning Behind Everything

"You seem all right."

Litton's voice, once somewhat nervous, once empty even, sounded boisterous and less hoarse. Barone managed a smile. She sipped mango and peach puree out of a straw and tucked her hair buns back. "You too."

"Anubimon helps," Litton admitted, settling back in her chair. "Encouraging and everything. Doesn't care that I still can't see shit."

Barone's eyes widened. "An Anubimon? Really?" She couldn't help the excited wriggle in her chair. "You managed to connect to an _Ultimate_?"

Litton's dark skin darkened even further as she blushed. "Well, uh… yeah. It was by accident. Glare was working with us down in Thriller Ruins. He showed up and he's been around all the time since. He's..." She dipped her head in a gesture of humility that Barone knew the other didn't make easily. "He's been a great help, after everything."

Barone smiled, though her head drooped in dissatisfaction. "Yeah… I still can't..." Dreamless or even happy sleep eluded every single one of them, no matter what they did.

Litton took a large gulp of mango and banana. "Same. This won't help."

That comment earned a giggle. "We have a few hours before bed. I think you'll be fine, Li-nee."

Litton flushed again, a solemn frown twisting her small face. "I wish you wouldn't call me that, you know. It's almost insulting."

"It's a compliment," Barone defended, though her voice wavered a little to control her giggles. It was still a little fun to get under her senior's skin. Litton laughed and her eyes cleared.

"I know, but still." She raised a hand and waved it about like she would cast a spell. "I'm a bit of a failure of a big sis, you know."

"You're doing some good," Barone countered with a huff, blue eyes curdling like spoiled milk. " _Cheetah_ won't even write to me and we were stuck in the same room for three days."

Litton snickered. "That's because he's a boy, Barone. Nothing to do with you."

Barone sipped her smoothie with a wrinkle of her nose. "I think he just doesn't like me."

"Cheetah doesn't like much of anyone." It suited him. He liked to be a lot faster than anyone else, or think he was. "He's made a new friend though, him and Pulsa." Litton tossed back a cookie and caught it in her mouth, causing the other girl to wrinkle her nose.

Barone raised an eyebrow. "Cheetah can make friends?"

Litton chortled and shook her head. "Well, more like he punched the kid, the kid punched back, and Pulsa got between them. So it's close enough."

Barone laughed shyly again. "Well, that's progress." She sighed and rubbed her eyes. "We're screwed up. We're all really screwed up. We can't even go home."

"We'll hurt them." Litton sounded so grim, so wan. "But up here, we'll get better, and maybe when the world gets better, we can go back and not freak at every creaking door."

Barone made a solemn hum of possible agreement and the girls finished their smoothies in silence.


	4. You look so worn out

4\. "You look so worn out."

Dorothy is six years old when she gets her first Digiegg. He's a pretty shade of purple-blue, and fits in her lap like the old doll that had been looking more and more annoying as the weeks went on. (She knows he's a he because the egg wobbled when she asked!)

Her mama had looked so happy to see her happy, like she was the little girl instead of Dorothy herself. It was very odd, but Dorothy rubbed the egg and didn't care. It was kinda cool too.

Her papa was home today too! She had her own Digimon interface now, a gift from him. She couldn't get it broken no matter what! That meant being careful in puddles, even though splashing in them with her boots was the best. Oh well, it couldn't be helped.

Dorothy got so involved in her thoughts that she almost missed two large hands picking her up by the armpits. She squealed. "Papa, no! Not an airplane?"

"You're not?" His voice, still tinged with an Earth accent of some sort, teased easily. "Then I guess you're not a pogo stick either."

"No!" She gave a firm shake of her head for emphasis. Then Dorothy frowned, lips in a heavy pout. "What's a pogo stick?"

There was a sudden, too light-heavy silence.

Her mother sighed. "We haven't taught her about pogo sticks. What have we been doing?"

"Nothing good." Papa started to spin her around. Dorothy shrieked with laughter and broke the light-heavy air. Mama picked up her egg and set him in her lap.

"Don't make her too sick for cake." The warning was dampened by her smile, the pretty smile that her Auntie said Dorothy had somehow been born with too.

"No promises. She's enjoying this, aren't you?" When her papa kissed her forehead, Dorothy found it easy to bounce up, to cheer up.

It was easy to enjoy the good things.

* * *

Even years later, Dorothy could smile at her mother's grave. She could brush away the jagged marks on her shoulder, the scars from an old accident. Her mama saved her from that accident, and lived. Called the Immortal Dancer, she had fought in a lot of battles, and saved many lives.

But the phoenix couldn't save her forever. Not that it really wanted to save anyone now.

Dorothy ran her fingers over her mother's name, and noted the space at her own side. Of the few people she had been surrounded by, there weren't many left now. And their lives were tainted too.

She brushed her eyes with her thumb.

"You did your best, didn't you Mom," she asked the stone. "You tried as hard as you could, but it stopped mattering after a while. They won't change, I think. Not for you. You messed up and it hurt, but you tried to make it right. It still hurt. It's not fair, Mom. I love you but it's not fair."

Not that it was fair to blame her mother either. Not when the woman had done everything she could to make up for her mistake, only to be blatantly told that everything was never going to be good enough in the face of pain.

No wonder her parents had divorced.

"What does it say about me, anyway?" she asked her mother's grave.

She really didn't want the answer.


End file.
